3 tins of lychees (used as the 'eyes' that are gouged out in King Lear)

and require the stage crew to change the set from production to production 51 times

From July the Royal Shakespeare Company is offering theatregoers the chance to see nine productions at The Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon.

The Winter's Tale, As You Like It and Julius Caesar, first seen in 2009, will return to the stage, playing in repertoire with King Lear, Romeo and Juliet, Antony and Cleopatra, Malory's Morte d'Arthur, and two Shakespeare productions specially aimed at younger theatre-goers, The Comedy of Errors and Hamlet.

The productions, which run until 11 September, are performed by an ensemble of 44 actors, playing 263 roles.

Michael Boyd, RSC Artistic Director, said: "Our current acting ensemble first started working with us in January 2009. Now, 18 months later, I'm delighted that audiences have the opportunity to see nine of the productions they have presented.

"Comedies, tragedies and history plays are all on offer, including six full-scale Shakespeares, an epic adaptation of Malory's Morte d'Arthur, and two Shakespeares adapted for younger audiences. This is a great chance to see our actors playing a wide range of different roles in some of Shakespeare's greatest plays.”

After September the actors will perform a 10 week season of some of the plays at The Roundhouse in London, before returning to Stratford in February 2011 to have the honour of presenting the first RSC shows in the new Royal Shakespeare Theatre. These productions will be drawn from the 2009-10 repertoire, and full details of play titles and booking details will be made available later this year.

1 July – 11 September repertoire, The Courtyard Theatre

King Lear in rep 1 July – 26 August 2010Antony and Cleopatra in rep 1 July – 28 August 2010Romeo and Juliet in rep 2 July – 27 August 2010Morte d'Arthur in rep 7 July – 28 August 2010The Winter's Tale in rep 14 July – 2 September 2010As You Like It in rep 21 July – 4 September 2010Julius Caesar in rep 28 July – 4 September 2010The Comedy of Errors in rep 7 August – 11 September 2010Hamlet in rep 21 August – 11 September 2010

Images from all productions are available to download at http://www.epo-online.com (registration required), or on request from Dean Asker.